Scandium and
There's yttrium and lanthanum and cerium and terbium. Europium, gadolinium, dysprosium, neodymium… of students memorize the periodic table of elements. But they're likely in your pocket.
Mobile phones contain many valuable metals and uncommon earths. An average iPhone contains around 0.034g of gold, 0.34g of silver and 0.015g of palladium. This is in addition to 1000th of a gram of platinum. It additionally contains 25g of aluminum, and 15g of copper.
"Elements like neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium are used in magnets for audio applications, in cameras and in haptics," said Apple. "Traditional recyclers do not recycle these rare earth elements because they are used in too small amounts and the technology for recovery is not sufficiently developed."
There is only about 1/35th of a gram of gold in an average cell phone's interior. Not much, because gold is super malleable and gold is so soft and nontoxic, we can eat gold sheets and shavings.
What metals does a typical iPhone contain? According to 911Metallurgist.com, each iPhone contains an average of $1.58 worth of gold, $0.36 of silver, $0.12 of copper, $0.05 of aluminum, and $0.02 of platinum.
If you examine several varieties of smart- phones, you can find 16 of the 17 rare-earth metals. The only one you will not find is promethium, which is radioactive.
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are used in the components of many devices used daily in our modern society, such as: the screens of smart phones, computers, and flat panel televisions; the motors of computer drives; batteries of hybrid and electric cars; and new generation light bulbs.
The People's Republic has the world's largest reserves of these not so rare metals. According to analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey, around 44 million tons of REO (rare earth oxides) lie dormant in the Chinese soil.
A television contains copper, quartz, iron, gold, platinum, and silver in its parts. List any other uses you know for these mineral resources.
Indium: This rare metal is vital for touch screens – it's used in indium tin oxide, which is transparent and conducts electricity. It's also used in solar panels.
The 17 Rare Earths are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y).
Fortunately, no matter how strong your neodymium magnets are, they cannot damage the magnets in the speakers of your mobile phone. So, it seems that magnets aren't quite as harmful to our phones as we thought!
Hence, Lithium is not a rare earth mineral.
In terms of abundance in the Earth's crust, the rarest metals are: gold, platinum, osmium, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, tellurium and rhenium. These metals are different from Rare Earth Elements, which aren't actually rare in terms of abundance, but are rarely found in concentrated ore deposits.
The majority of rare earth minerals are mined in China because that country has the majority of mining facilities in operation.
Rare-earth ore deposits are found all over the world. The major ores are in China, the United States, Australia, and Russia, while other viable ore bodies are found in Canada, India, South Africa, and southeast Asia.
Apple's use of 100 percent certified recycled rare earth elements has also expanded in the last year — going from 45 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2022.
Global snapshot of rare earth reserves
According to estimates, the total worldwide reserves of rare earths amount to approximately 130 million metric tons. Most of these reserves are located within China, estimated at some 44 million metric tons.
The company's use of 100 percent certified recycled rare earth elements has greatly expanded in the last year as well, going from 45 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2022. As part of the accelerated new timeline, all Apple-designed printed circuit boards will use 100 percent certified recycled gold plating by 2025.
According to the UN's e-waste report, 41 phones contain about 1 gram of gold. The gold value in your mobile phone is not more than $2 according to the current gold price, so it is obviously not the result that you want to exchange the gold for value.
Professional refurbishing companies buy up cracked iPhones in bulk and replace the screens for much cheaper than Apple can. That means your cracked iPhone is actually worth quite a bit of money. In many cases, an iPhone with the screen cracked can be re-sold for only $30-$50 less than one in good condition.
The main component of a SIM card is the electronic chip made from Silicon with some added impurities such as phosphorous . It is plated with metals such as Gold to form outer layer which makes contact with your mobile phone. This chip is housed inside a shell made from plastic. 1,000 SIM Card Approx Contains 1 gm Gold.